Kryten (Red Dwarf) - Cultural References

Cultural References

• Howard Goodall wrote the Androids theme tune with the Australian soap opera Neighbours in mind. The song, containing similar lyrics and tune, was trimmed down due to time constraints.

• Rimmer is trying to learn the Esperanto language and has been for the last eight years. He also appears dressed as an admiral to visit the crashed ship, and is described by Lister as looking like Clive of India. Rimmer describes the dead women as having "less meat on them than a Chicken McNugget". The "Mc" in McNugget is removed on the remastered DVD, although if Rimmer's lips are watched the reference is quite clear.

• Lister insists that Kryten should watch classic rebel films like The Wild One, Rebel Without a Cause and Easy Rider, hoping that the films, including the Marlon Brando rebel speech, would help the mechanoid break his servile programming. Kryten quotes Marlon Brando in the last line of the episode: Rimmer asks, "What are you rebelling against?" and Kryten replies in an affected voice, "What d'ya got?"

• While preparing for their first contact with the Nova 5 crew, Rimmer asks Lister to call him by names that would make him look good in front of the female survivors, such as his high school nickname. Lister retorts that his nickname was probably "bonehead" and Rimmer reluctantly confirms, but adds that he wished to be called "Ace". The character "Ace Rimmer" would later appear in the series IV episode Dimension Jump and turn out to be a mirror version of Rimmer from an alternative universe in which he became a hero loved by all.

• Kryten's initial plight parallels Harry Harrison's 1968 short story "I Have My Vigil," in which a robot narrates his daily routine of caring for a small group of astronauts, oblivious to the fact that they are dead.